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Weds 5th

Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all. Today I decided to give both Bella and Storm some mild exercise so rode Storm bareback and lead Bella from him so a 2 for 1 😉

 

It was a lovely, calm, walk around and I changed Bella’s side depending on which way were going, to keep her on the inside 😉

 

 

 

Thurs 6th

 

Snow falling and not sure when it’s going to stop SO bringing horses home will be good for them and us. Mark led Storm up on headcollar and lead rope from the quad bike with Bella following loose behind them 🙂

 

 

I then took over and walked them home.

 

 

 

 

We went slowly as it was still snowing and it was a bit slippery, which is why I didn’t ride home.

 

 

 

And then at home they settled in quickly and got stuck into the hay.

 

 

 

Thurs 13th

Finally the snow has gone and most of the ice off the tracks too so it’s time to get the horses back to their big field so they can stretch their legs and have their lovely shelter back 😉

 

Mark started off walking Storm and Bella

 

 

 

 

But soon decided to just jump on Storm’s back and give his own legs a rest 😉

 

 

 

Both horses were up for going back to the big field

 

 

 

 

 

Think they’re happy horses <3

 

 

 

 

Sun 16th

Been quite a while and it’s the first proper ride of the year. Just did a short ride with Mark and Stormy but great to put bum to saddle 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 17th

Lovely morning doing horses breakfasts then poo picking the field. Sunshine gave us some lovely shadows and I gave Bella a wee massage on her neck, shoulders, spine, back and sacral. Think she enjoyed it 😉

 

 

 

Wed 19th

As still officially Winter and the ground is quite hard I’ve decided to try and put more foundation onto Bella in the form of online and liberty play. She is still a wee bit worried about Familiarisation noise (Energy, motion, noise) in certain area’s with certain things (ie. flag in front of her chest, things at her nose etc) So this is a great opportunity to get that better with some fun play 😉

 

Start our session in the round pen online. Normal games of under the curtain

 

 

 

…sidepass over the pipe etc

 

 

 

 

I then take off the rope and then the halter so she is at liberty. She does some really lovely sidepass…

 

 

 

…under the curtain is no bother now, even in the wind 😉

 

 

 

Lovely draw towards too. I settle her with relaxed breathing out and some strokes on her neck.

 

 

 

She had a wee run around, came back and asked to step over the pipe which I encourage, I then ask for a sidepass off it 😉

 

She often gets her energy up, this is something we need to work on…to let her know it’s okay to have bigger energy but to be able to find relaxation in, through and afterwards too….her canter today is very balanced and controlled which is lovely.

 

She finally figures out that standing on the tarp is a good place to stop and figure out how to relax back down again 🙂

 

 

She is also getting better at thinking at a faster gait and she does the wee jump with calmness and thought 😉

 

 

 

Thurs 20th

Today I go down early, feed breakfast and poo pick and then ask Bella to come and play. Doing things in the morning is good as she is connected due to feeding but also leaves the rest of the day for other things (ie. cutting the trees that fell in storm Arwen at the house) 😉

 

Whilst poo picking I realise Bella has tried hard to get my attention….she is standing on the pedestal 🙂 LOL

I call her over and she, with Stormy, starts to walk to me.

 

The sun was just coming up and there was a stunning sky 😉

 

 

 

 

As I’m going around the field with the quad bike they both follow me, then go past me as they trot and canter together 😉 Bella really stretching out which was lovely.

 

 

Such lovely horses.

After I’d done the poo picking I ask Bella into the roundpen at liberty for some more play 😉

 

 

Fri 21st

 

Another early morning liberty play session with Bella. Slowly she is getting calmer at trot and canter going over the poles and low jump 😉

 

 

Using the archway at the gate is very useful, she does some nice squeezes under it and back and then through a bit and backing up away from it was really good too 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

To end the session I put her back online and did some walk/backups/trot transitions S2M around the round pens. We were lucky to have Stormy join us with this at liberty which was very kool 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 23rd

Lovely day today as I was out in the morning with the horses for breakfast, poo picking and then a lovely play session with Bella in the round pen. She was calm and did lovey circles with COD’s over the 4 obstacles I have around the pen (two sets of trot poles and two low jumps). Bella did them really well, with balance, controlled energy at trot and her changes were great and included the fact that when she went from anti-clockwise to clockwise she stayed in trot and didn’t go into a unbalanced canter which she has been doing since we started her journey 🙂 KOOL 🙂

 

This afternoon I went down and did a bit of work side by side with Storm and Mark.

 

 

 

 

Then we did a bit on our own, working on circles, fig 8’s in trot with me finding some nice balance in the saddle to help her keep a lovely spinal arc under me 😉

 

 

Bella had lovely energy and a bit controlled trot today too.

 

 

 

Really enjoyed our session and to end it we did some turns around cones and tyre stacks with a loose rein and working on focus/weight/leg cues 😉

 

 

Lovely session for a mild January day 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 25th

 

Lovely ride around the field today doing our very large fig 8’s. One fence line we do walk, the next trot etc and today I changed that by putting two fence lines in trot so as to keep the pattern fun and not boring 😉

 

 

Her trot was much more consistent, changeable from a nice sitting slow trot to her big rising trot through using my focus, inner energy and minute changes in my breathing 😉

 

We ended on a fun note…not 4 feet on ped, but back ones 😉 LOL

 

 

Thurs 27th

Had a day off yesterday so it was lovely to be out in a bit of chilly sunshine with Bella today 😉

 

Mark trimming Storms feet in the background.

Mounted and ready to go…

 

 

 

Didn’t do too much but had some fun working in the big field with straight lines in walk. Then we did a few bits of trot circles to finish with 😉

 

 

 

Lovely nice balanced trot with some energy but not going too fast 😉

 

 

 

 

Afterwards they both had a lovely canter with us as we left the field 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 28th

 

Cheeky Bella nicking some of Storms breakfast.

Each time I feed breakfast I also do the poo piking and often Bella comes to play in the round pen for some treats 😉 🙂

 

 

Great going over the obstacles now 😉

 

 

 

Great jump from Bella today…the pole is now one higher 😉 And a lovely draw back to me too 🙂

 

 

 

Storm still being a  bit of a joker but in his thinking you get treats going under the archway….I did give him some for backing off out of it 😉 x

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 30th

 

Eating my breakfast with the dynamic duo Bella came over to me (rather than pinch Storms food today) and stood on the pedestal for some attention.

 

While poo picking Bella came over to me for some fuss…I asked her to come into the round pen for fuss, treat and a play which she did nicely.

 

She is SO confident going through the archway now, she did it a few times 😉

 

 

 

 

 

She also did the higher jump very nicely too today 😉

 

 

 

 

Great jump 🙂

 

I didn’t have to move far from the centre of the pen to ask Bella to do obstacles so that is a huge bit of progress 😉

 

 

She drew very nicely back to me after doing any of the obstacles on the circle 😉 Lovely play session

 

 

 

 

Heavy winds expected tonight so we go down this afternoon and strap the horses shelter down. They’re strapped to ground pins that are screwed into the ground about 3′ and the straps are those used for big heavy loads on lorries, the system has worked well so far.

We’ve usually brought the horses back when we do this but the wind is worse at the house with the trees blowing about a lot, they’re safer in the big field 😉

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy

 

Sun 5th

 

Just SO lovely to get bum to saddle today. Didn’t do much, nothing strenuous…

 

 

 

as I didn’t want to sweat Bella up, BUT some lovely nice walk and she went into trot off her own initiative a couple of times too…

 

 

Lovely, calm, happy and put the smile back on my face as it always does 😉

 

 

 

Mon 6th

2nd Storm in as many weeks coming…Storm Barra…bring horses home again, Mark walked them half the way, I walked them the rest 😉 It was snowing as we walked and was very very cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds 8th

Today I rode Stormy and led Bella back to the big field. Because the fallen trees have taken about half of the home paddock grazing away we will be taking them back to the big field every chance we have this winter to save the home paddocks from becoming poached with mud or the horses getting bored silly with the small space 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 10th

 

 

Our two beauties hanging out in the shelter where we put their hay 😉

 

Just lovely to put bum to saddle again. Slow, walk about, just a peaceful plod with my bestie 😉

 

 

 

Gorgeous to look between those cute ears.

Stormy waits patiently for us to finish so he gets a treat for being such a gorgeous boy 🙂 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 13th

 

Managed a lovely wee, calm, ride on Bella with Mark and Stormy today 🙂

 

 

 

We practised some leg yields and loose rein riding too 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Wed 15th

 

Been chopping a lot of wood recently as a lot of trees down in our home paddocks and we need to clear them BUT it’s always lovely to get out and have some horsey time, it clears my head, fills my heart and brings the smile back to my face 😉 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 16th

 

Well I decided to jump on Bella with the bareback pad on today. I don’t want to ‘train’ her per se but just love having some loose rein plodding about sessions at this time of year 😉 she was a star 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 17th

 

Very cold morning but worth waiting for the sunshine…Bella was enjoying it 😉

Later on Mark and I trimmed Storm and Bella….

 

 

And then I had a lovely soft bareback ride 😉

 

 

 

 

Tues 21st

 

Bad weather coming so horses brought home

 

 

 

 

I walked them half of the way and then rode the last half

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was lovely to have them up at the house although the paddocks aren’t back to their nice state yet as still around 25 trees to strip, cut and move BUT they had a little bit more space this time as we’ve cut 4 big trees up already 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon 27th 

Horses spent a nice few days over Xmas and now that the weather has gone milder, albeit drizzly and a bit rainy, it’s better that they have the big field to roam around with the shelter to hide in if they want to SO hoses back to the big field…they were happy to go and stretched their legs and Stormy got filthy rolling a few times in the mud. lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thurs 30th

At last we have a dry, nice, not too cold day so my first thought was to put bum to saddle today….nothing big, nothing new, just nice walk/trot/backup transitions for a few mins of Bella time <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Shelley – HorseSavvy